Ross: Forgiven by His Party or Just Campaigning?

U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland, was named last week as one of five senior deputy whips serving in the U.S. House Republican Conference.

By BILL RUFTYLEDGER POLITICAL EDITOR

U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland, was named last week as one of five senior deputy whips serving in the U.S. House Republican Conference.A senior deputy whip is responsible for passing on information to the Republican members of Congress about the conference's needs and about party leadership's plans.. The post is one of the highest in the Republican-controlled House. Ross' predecessor, Adam Putnam, also held a high-ranking position, that of chairman of the House Republican Conference. At that time, there was talk that Putnam's mentor, then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, was grooming Putnam to be speaker one day.But it raises the question: Is Ross receiving the job because he is being challenged by a Democrat, Alan Cohn of Tampa, or is this a sign that he and current Speaker John Boehner have mended fences?When Republicans lost the majority in the House in 2008, Putnam announced his intentions to run for Florida agriculture commissioner, which was pretty much expected in his quest to be governor of Florida one day. Putnam was elected to state office in 2010, and Hastert left as U.S. House speaker. Then in 2010, Republicans again acquired a majority in the House, and Boehner became speaker. Ross was first elected to the House that same year.Ross became a member of the Tea Party Caucus in the House. It put him and several others at odds with Boehner, who was trying to compromise with a Democratic president on a few things to get the government moving. Ross has said he is no longer an official member of the caucus.On several occasions, Ross has referred to Boehner as "a good transitional speaker."Merriam-Webster dictionary defines transition as "a passage from one state, stage, subject, or place to another: change.""Transitional" would imply the change is still occurring and has not reached its end with perhaps another speaker. Boehner has been criticized by some in his own party within the House. Majority Whip-elect Steve Scalise of Louisiana also named Reps. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Aaron Schock of Illinois, Steve Stivers of Ohio and Ann Wagner of Missouri as senior deputy whips. Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina will be the chief deputy whip.

REPUBLICANS ENDORSE IN NONPARTISAN RACEThe Polk County Republican Executive Committee has endorsed Lynn Wilson for the Polk County School Board, Seat 6.Wilson is challenging board member Debra Smith Wright for the seat. Although the School Board is a nonpartisan race, Wilson is a registered Republican and Wright is a registered Democrat.According to Florida Statute 106.14(3), nonpartisan candidates are prohibited from campaigning as party members or even mentioning their party on campaign literature.But nationwide in recent years, both major parties have begun to support their own candidates in nonpartisan races. The most notable such involvement locally was when Justin Troller faced Brian Dockery for the nonpartisan Lakeland City Commission in 2007.Local Republican officials began supporting Dockery openly and pointing out, while criticizing Troller, that Dockery was a Republican and Troller was a Democrat. Neither candidate had held office before, and therefore neither had a record. Many observers have said the campaign by some local GOP leaders and by the Lakeland chamber might have been a factor in Dockery's loss to Troller.It's all about "building a bench," members of both parties say, using a baseball term.If you have a "deep bench," whether in baseball or politics, then you have a wide choice of players to take the field, and a nonpartisan post is good training.Still, supporters of non­partisan elections say that the idea behind changing races to nonpartisan, usually local offices is to keep partisan politics out of the races and the offices.

[ Ledger Political Editor Bill Rufty can be reached at bill.rufty@theledger.com or 863-802-7523. His Twitter site is @LedgerBill. ]

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